Legacy of the Fire Empire
by MasterGhandalf
Summary: Sequel to Fall of the Fire Empire. AU. Five years after the defeat of Empress Azula, Aang must contend with a brutal king, a dark cult, and a mysterious threat from the Spirit World
1. Prologue: Omens

**AN: **This is a sequel to "Fall of the Fire Empire". Though I offer a brief summary of the events of this AU, reading the original story is strongly encouraged if you want to understand the specifics of this one.

**Legacy of the Fire Empire**

**What has gone Before: **

Two centuries ago, the Fire Nation, under the leadership of the visionary but merciless Fire Lord Sozin, began a war of conquest against the other three great bending nations, striking first at the temples of the Air Nomads. To those who studied such matters, it was known that to them would next be born the Avatar, the mortal incarnation of the spirit dedicated to preserving the balance of the world, and Sozin was determined to remove that threat to his growing power. The Air Temples were destroyed, falling to firebenders empowered by the comet that would come to share the Fire Lord's name, and the Nomads themselves slaughtered, but the Avatar was never found.

A hundred years later, the Avatar resurfaced as the Fire Nation neared victory, and was quickly captured by Prince Zuko, son of the reigning Fire Lord, Ozai. Zuko brought the Avatar, Aang, back to the Capital with him, and there he was imprisoned in catacombs beneath the earth, kept drugged so as to be unable to bend; Ozai's intention was to brainwash the young monk and turn him into a weapon of conquest. Shortly thereafter, Sozin's Comet returned and once again granted the Fire Nation its power. The Earth Kingdom cities of Ba Sing Se and Omashu fell to invading armies, and the Northern Water Tribe was overrun by the Fire Navy under the command of Admiral Zhao. Prince Zuko was killed during the Battle of Ba Sing Se- by friendly fire from his own sister Azula, some said- and in the North, the mortal forms of the Moon and Ocean Spirits were taken captive, rendering waterbending across the globe powerless and disrupting the natural cycles of the mortal and spirit worlds. In the wake of these great victories, Ozai proclaimed himself to be the Phoenix King, risen from the ashes of the old order to rule the new; his domain ceased to be the Fire Nation and became the Fire Empire.

Over the next several decades, Ozai's control of the world tightened, while Azula, now his heir, began to assemble what she called her "Chosen"- young women of noble birth trained extensively in the art of combat and sworn to have undying loyalty to the princess herself. Patterned after a group of female warriors Azula had once encountered, and based on the island named for Avatar Kyoshi, they soon began taking new recruits practically from the cradle, and raising them to know no other life. They were lethal and fanatical, and were instrumental in helping Azula put down a rebellion in the former Earth Kingdom lead by an earthbending woman of extraordinary skill known only as the Blind Bandit. Shortly afterward, Ozai died in his sleep, and Azula assumed his throne, taking the title "Dragon Empress".

All was not well in the Empire, however. Azula soon began to spiral into madness, though only those closest to her dared to say anything aloud, and became convinced she was haunted by the spirit of her brother, who she struck from the histories in response. Meanwhile, rumor surfaced that a waterbender still walked the earth- a white-haired woman who seemed more spirit than flesh, and who claimed to be a survivor of the attack on the Northern Water Tribe despite looking barely out of her teens. At the same time, Azula ordered Ba Sing Se be rebuilt under the name Long Du Shi- City of the Dragon- so that the once-great capital of the Earth Kingdom would become the greatest jewel in the Fire Empire's crown. As a final twist of the knife, most of the construction was handled by earthbender slaves- rather than the proud warriors of old, these benders knew of nothing but life under the lash.

A hundred years after the Fire Empire's rise, the governor of Long Du Shi was a nobleman of high standing named Yan Li. His daughter, Jiazin, was a talented firebender who was summoned following her sixteenth birthday to the Capital by High Minister Qing Xi, the Empress's right hand man. There, she learned that Azula, consumed by fear of her own mortality, intended to create the illusion that she had become immortal by having Jiazin assume her identity following her death- but the idealistic young woman was also forced to confront the dark truth of the Empire's rise to power. Fleeing back to her home city in horror, she soon fell in with a group of earthbender rebels, even as her path crossed with those of two other young travelers- Kanoda, a hunter of the Southern Water Tribe who had departed his home in search of a chance to become a true hero, only to run afoul of the Empress's Chosen and then join forces with Yue, white-haired waterbender and mortal agent of the Moon and Ocean Spirits; and Tong, an earthbender slave who had rebelled and killed his overseer, in the process discovering that he possessed abilities similar to those of the legendary Blind Bandit.

Jiazin, Yue, and Kanoda set out to liberate the Moon and Ocean Spirits from High Admiral Yuan, grandson of Zhao, while Tong and the rebels prepared to seize Long Du Shi. Both quests proved successful, but at great price- both Yue and the rebel leader Shu Bei Fong were killed. At the same time, however, the release of the spirits freed Avatar Aang from the deathlike trance he had fallen into during their captivity; he escaped from beneath the Imperial Palace, destroying much of it.

All of this was, in the end, only the beginning of Azula's last, most terrible scheme. Lost to madness, haunted by a legion of the spirits of her victims, the Empress vowed to drag the world down into death with her, arranging for the Empire to collapse into a devastating civil war when she was no longer there to lead it. The rebels joined forces with the Imperial High General Xia to confront Azula's loyal forces, but even when she was confronted by Jiazin, Kanoda, and Avatar Aang, the Empress was too powerful to be defeated. In the end, her death came, through a twist of fate, by the hand of one of her own loyal Chosen, who sank into madness herself when she realized what she had done. To prevent the war Azula had intended, Jiazin claimed the throne of Fire Lord, but declared the territories of the former Earth Kingdom to be free once more.

It is now five years since the fall of the Dragon Empress. Much of the Earth Kingdom is independent again, but in many places occupying Imperial officers have set themselves up as petty tyrants answering only to themselves. Strange cults, backed by surviving Chosen and worshipping the Empress as divine, have also arisen, in some cases joining forces with the occupiers. Into this world come Avatar Aang and Kanoda, who have spent the past several years traveling together to work to preserve the balance and, perhaps, recover the lost secrets of the art of waterbending.

**Prologue: Omens**

The cold wind howled from between the dark trees, and Pong shivered as he wrapped his cloak more tightly around himself. Cursed cold weather, and cursed luck on top of that for not being able to find a job in order to be able to get in out of it. The Earth Kingdom had settled into an uneasy peace after regaining its independence from the collapsing Fire Empire, but that could break at any moment, and Pong comforted himself with the knowledge that then, at least, mercenaries would be in high demand.

He looked across his campfire and glanced at his small group; half a dozen men and women with skill at weapons but no bending ability or social connections, the sort of people one would expect to sell their swords for a living. It was the empty space closest to him, though, that caught his eye; _she_ was gone again. The latest member of their band was a mystery, all right, but she was good with that skinny sword of hers- better even than Pong himself, though he'd never admit it out loud. She was a shy thing, too, who never spoke much about herself, but from her skill alone- and the bright gold color of her eyes- he had his guesses as to where she'd come from.

"Pong?" a soft voice from beside him, and he jumped to his feet and had his sword half drawn in shock before he saw that it was her. _Think too hard about the Face-stealer, and he comes for you_, the mercenary thought as his gaze took the girl in. She was young looking- surprisingly so, maybe eighteen at the most- and her eyes had the haunted quality of someone who'd seen too much in too short a time. She was dressed in the same plain leathers as the rest of them, but her posture was different, somehow. They were soldiers; this girl was a true warrior.

"What is it?" Pong asked her, forcing discomfort aside. "Don't scare me like that."

"Sorry," the girl said. "But I found something, and… well, I think you should see it."

Pong shrugged and followed after her, wondering what this was about- but he kept his hand on the hilt of his sword, just in case. He followed her for a short while deeper into the forest, then stopped as she knelt on the ground in front of him. He knelt beside her, and saw what she had pointed out- and drew in a deep breath in shock. They were tracks, but tracks unlike anything he'd ever seen before. They somewhat resembled an ostrich-horse's, but much larger, with razor-sharp talons that dug deep into the ground, and Pong wondered how the creature had fit between the trees. Then he shook himself; obviously, it _had_ fit, and the question was only where it was now, and whether it was dangerous.

"I'm going back to the camp," he said. "We all need to be on alert, and if this thing comes back…"

"I don't think it will," the girl said. "Look more closely." Pong did so, and gradually realized what was wrong with this scene. The tracks suddenly ended just a few feet in front of him, and none of the trees or other plants seemed to have been disturbed in any way.

"It can't be," Pong whispered, shivering from something other than the cold this time. "Whatever this was, it must have been from…"

"The Spirit World," the girl said, nodding. "Thank you. I needed someone else to see it- I needed to know I wasn't crazy."

"Well, you're not," Pong said, standing up. "We're going back to camp; I don't know if we can defend ourselves against a spirit, but by the elements we're going to give it a shot." He turned and began to swiftly make his way back towards the others, but stopped and looked back over his shoulder to see the girl still standing there. "Come on, Cheng. Don't dawdle; there's safety in numbers."

She nodded once and followed him in silence back to the others. Swiftly, Pong explained what he'd seen and gathered them together around the fire, facing out with weapons at the ready. After what felt like agonizing hours of fearful waiting, however, nothing came, and finally Pong found himself drifting off to sleep.

When he awoke the next morning, Cheng was gone. Pong never saw her again.


	2. Chapter 1: The New World

**Chapter 1: The New World **

Wei paced in front of the cave opening, occasionally glancing up at the sun to chart its passage across the sky, or back into the cavern where his men and their captives waited. Finally, he shook his head in disgust. "They're not coming," he muttered under his breath. "Stupid waste of time. I should have known better than to think that the Fire Lord herself would come to meet with us over something like this. What powerful noble would?"

"A dozen of the children of some of her staunchest supporters, taken captive from Ember Island?" his second-in-command said from where he stood nearby. "Even if she doesn't come herself, you know that they'll be hounding her to pay the ransom."

"It was never about the money, Sho," Wei snapped. "You know that as well as I do. It's about restoring to the Fire Nation that which rightly belongs to it."

"Kidnapping a bunch of kids was never going to jump-start a revolution," Sho muttered under his breath. Wei scowled at him. He ought to know better; the two of them had been officers together in the Imperial Army occupying the former Earth Kingdom, and both had been among the forces recalled from that land when Fire Lord Jiazin had ceded it to the rising New Earth Kingdom. They'd been dismissed from service shortly afterwards, but Wei had been determined that he wouldn't suffer such indignity without a fight. The child Fire Lord- Agni, the girl was just barely out of her teens even now!- would be shown that the servants of the true Empress would not lay down and submit to her without a fight.

Something rustled in the forest beyond the cave mouth, and both veterans dropped into combat stances, Sho drawing his sword while Wei prepared himself to bend. A handful of their men came hurrying out from inside, weapons drawn as well. Together they formed a semicircle staring out into the Ember Island night.

The trees rustled again, followed by a slender spear hurtling down from them and embedding itself in the rocks mere inches from Wei's head. Quick as thought his hand lashed out in response, sending a blast of fire shooting into the trees, but it didn't seem to strike any living enemy; only the treetops appeared to be burning. Someone was out there, though- that spear obviously hadn't thrown itself. "Don't just stand there, idiots!" he snapped at his men. "Find whoever threw that and bring them to me, at once!" The ex-soldiers nodded once and headed out into the forest night, leaving only Wei and Sho behind.

Wei continued to stare after them, hands raised to bend again at a moment's notice, while Sho sheathed his sword and wrenched the spear from the stone, studying it intently. "This looks like a Water Tribe weapon," he said. "Could it actually be…"

Before he finished speaking, a young man in a blue tunic and pants stepped out from the forest and faced both soldiers with a casually amused expression on his dark face. "Pretty clever of you, actually," he said, nodding at Sho. "I don't think there's that many in the Fire Nation who would recognize where that style of spear comes from." His gaze shifted to Wei. "Of course, you also made the mistake of sending all your men running off into the woods to leave yourselves completely undefended, so I guess it balances out."

"You were the one who threw the spear, then?" Wei demanded, shifting his stance so that his hands were now aimed directly at the intruder, while Sho dropped the spear and drew his sword again. "Foolish of you. You might have lured my men off, but they'll be back, and you're no much for all of us by yourself!"

The young man shook his head. "Two problems with that. One, I don't think I'm going to have to worry about your men showing back up, and two, I'm not alone." Even as he finished speaking the earth rumbled beneath their feet, then heaved suddenly; when it became still again, Wei's warriors had been deposited just before the cave mouth in an unconscious heap.

The ex-soldier's gaze went to them, then back to the smiling stranger, and in an instant, fire erupted from his hands directly at him. Before it could strike, however, a powerful gust of wind struck it, diverting the blast harmlessly into the sky. A second figure leaped down from the trees, this one a shaven-headed teenager who was slightly shorter and more slender than his companion, dressed in a traveler's tunic that might have been in fashion two hundred years ago and carrying a wooden staff in one hand. Wei's eyes went to the arrow tattooed on the boy's forehead, and he felt a chill creep up his spine. "The Avatar," he whispered in a horrified voice.

"My name's Kanoda," the first stranger said. "And I'm with him. Now, are you sure you don't want to surrender?"

# # # # # # # # # # # #

"You know," Aang said, scowling as he finished tying Wei's hands behind his back, "that was a lot easier than I was expecting it to be."

Kanoda shrugged. "About what I was expecting, really- these guys are Imperial die-hards with a major grudge against Jiazin, but their plan was clumsy and was never going to work." He looked over at the group of noble children- the oldest were in their lower teens, and most were younger than that- who now stood outside the cave, some glaring at their former captors while others studied their rescuers in fascination. "But still, we did a good thing here today. If Jiazin had just sent soldiers in, the kidnappers might have gotten desperate and done something a lot worse."

Aang laughed. "I think you're just happy you got to do a certain Fire Lord a favor," he said with a sly look in Kanoda's direction. The young Water Tribesman pointedly ignored the comment.

"Well, I think it's time we get this business finished up," he said. "Aang, call in our ride." The Avatar nodded once and then whistled loudly; an instant later, the sound of a large animal running came from the forest, and then the source of that sound came galloping into the clearing. The eel hound was an odd-looking creature, taller than a grown man at the shoulder, his long, lean frame covered in sleek, scaled skin, but he was loyal, he was quick, and he could navigate almost any terrain with ease. In the absence of one of the Air Nomads' sky bison- Aang had told Kanoda many stories of the great creatures, and he regretted having never had the chance to see one- he was a near-ideal transport for someone whose duties took him around the world.

"Hey, Benchi," Aang said, reaching up to scratch the eel-hound's neck as the creature nuzzled his face against the Avatar's own. Kanoda knew that Benchi was no replacement for Aang's long-dead sky bison, Appa (the Avatar had been somewhat consoled to learn that while Appa had been taken by the Fire Nation, he had become a jewel of the Fire Lord's menagerie and had lived out his life in as much comfort as captivity offered), but there was still a very present bond between Avatar and mount.

Aang swung up onto Benchi's back and Kanoda followed, slinging Wei and Sho across the saddle as well- the rest of the renegades would be left to Fire Lord Jiazin's soldiers, who awaited only the signal that the children were safe, to capture. "All right, then," Aang called. "Let's get these guys to prison, and the kids back to their families!" He shook the eel-hound's reins once, and then the creature began to make his way back towards the beach and the inhabited portion of the island, the rescued children following close behind.

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The great city was shrouded in the smoke from a hundred fires, pumped into the sky from the stacks of dozens of great factories worked by peasants who were slaves in all but name. Once the city had been called Omashu, after two great figures from Earth Kingdom legend, but when it was taken by the Fire Nation, such a name was deemed to be unworthy, and shortly after the rise of the Empire it was renamed Chanjie*. Because of the rich mineral deposits nearby, under Empress Azula it became a bastion of the Imperial industrial machine. Now, Chanjie once again had a new master.

Li Shang, once a general in the Imperial Army and now King of the Southern Territories, stood at the balcony of his palace and looked down over the city that was now the capital of his territories. He smiled as he breathed in the acrid scent of the smoke; though some might find the odor displeasing, to him it represented order, efficiency, and productivity- three traits he had always valued, and that his time in the military had taught him to love. Now, they formed the basis by which he ran his kingdom- every citizen had value only insofar as they contributed to the running of the kingdom, but those who performed their duties well were rewarded. Li Shang had no patience for empty flattery or boasting; those under his rule performed, or they were punished. It was a simple and straightforward principle, and it left no room for doubt.

Li Shang had been shocked to hear of the Empress's death five years ago, and appalled that her successor was allowing this so-called "New" Earth Kingdom to reclaim the territory that was, supposedly, rightfully theirs. Foolish idealism, in Li Shang's opinion- to his mind, territory belonged to those strong enough to hold it, and if his Nation no longer recognized that, then it was no longer deserving of his loyalty. He had seized Chanjie with his army because of its factories, but also because of its remoteness, and he had spent the time sense slowly and quietly building up his powerbase, careful not to attract undo attention from the Fire Nation, the upstart "Earth Queen" Chaiy, or even the miraculously returned Avatar.

"Majesty," a voice said from behind him, and he turned to see Lord Chen- once Governor of Chanjie until he had wisely surrendered to Li Shang, whom he now served loyally as chief minister- standing immediately behind him. "Forgive me for interrupting your meditations, but your presence is required within. _She_ wishes to speak with you." Chen barely kept the contempt out of his voice when he mentioned "her"- his distaste for his king's other chief advisor was well known.

"Very well," Li Shang said, and marched inside. Servants and functionaries quickly bowed as he passed them on his way to the throne room, for the king was an intimidating and instantly recognizable figure. Taller than average and well-muscled, he still wore his red general's armor and a flowing cloak over it, and his grey-bearded face was stony and expressionless. Though well-into middle-age, Li Shang remained a deadly warrior and master firebender, and all who looked at him could tell it.

He entered his throne room- similar in design to the Fire Lord's at the Capital, though smaller and less grand- and took his seat, calmly while Chen took his customary place at his master's side. They waited for several moments, apparently alone, and then _she_ stepped out from the shadows near the room's edge.

Aitan** was not her real name, though it was the only one she had ever provided, and once, in another time, she had been of the Empress's Chosen, that elite order of warrior women raised practically from the cradle to revere Azula and carry out her will. With the Empress's death, some Chosen had sworn themselves to her successor, while others had killed themselves to join her. Aitan, however, had followed a different path- she believed that the Dragon Empress yet lived.

That did not exactly describe what she believed, but then, Li Shang wasn't sure the right words _existed_ outside the language of mystics and madmen. Aitan taught that Azula had somehow _ascended_ beyond humanity, and that her body's death had merely freed her spirit to guide her followers on to ultimate glory. She'd recruited a small but devoted group of followers who had seized an abandoned Earth Sage temple and turned it to their own use; Li Shang tolerated their existence and listened to Aitan's counsel for only one reason- fear was a valuable tool for motivating the masses, and Aitan and her followers were most skilled in inspiring fear. Even her appearance- a face painted in mourning white, rich robes of midnight black, and not a spot of another color visible anywhere on her body- made her seem like some unnatural emissary of her ghostly mistress.

"You wished to speak with me?" Li Shang asked, watching her face intently for any sign of feeling to no avail; Aitan, as always, was impossible to read.

"My agents have departed this city," the former Chosen said in her soft voice that was nearly devoid of inflection; as always, she spoke to Li Shang as an equal, rather than as subject to ruler. "Soon, the campaign may begin. I have read the omens, and the spirit of the Dragon Empress will ride with us; remember her, and we cannot fail." But forget to honor her, and she will withdraw her protection. Aitan didn't speak the words, but they hung in the air nonetheless.

"Excellent," Li Shang said. "I am pleased with your work." He paused for a moment, regarding that expressionless face, before he spoke again. "You are my spiritual advisor, so answer me this question- should the Avatar oppose our campaign, how would you recommend we deal with him?" Li Shang had his own ideas, of course, but he suspected that she would have a rather different perspective on the problem.

Aitan gave a rare, wintry smile. "Do not fear the Avatar," she said. "My followers and I are prepared for him. Not even he can stand before what must be- for remember, though you sit upon a throne, it is the Dragon Empress who now rules all. None may oppose that which she has ordained. Fear not, King of the Southern Territories, for she must prevail." Aitan closed her eyes and bowed, then turned and glided silently from the throne room.

Li Shang watched her go and slightly shook his head. _The world has changed_ he thought, _and though you and your followers have their uses, you do not grasp this truth. It will not be dead Azula who rules, nor will it be you. _

_ It will be I alone._

*In this timeline, Azula never had the opportunity to give Omashu the name "New Ozai". This name is a variant of one of the Chinese words for "industry".

** "Lament"


	3. Chapter 2: The Fire Lord's Request

**Chapter 2: The Fire Lord's Request**

A cold wind blew through the village as night fell. Len wrapped his arms tightly around himself as he looked up at the sky, trying to determine exactly what bothered him so strongly about this. The cold was uncomfortable, true, but hardly unseasonable- but there was something about this wind that simply felt _wrong_. He was no sage or guru, but something in his gut whispered that this was not the wind of this world.

"Len?" a voice called from behind him, and he turned to see Seng, his wife of almost a year now, standing in the door of the shop they ran together. "It's getting dark out. Won't you come inside?"

Len shook his head and looked up at the sky one last time, then turned and entered the store, shutting the door behind him. He stopped and hugged Seng, then gave a self-deprecating smile. "Sorry," he said. "Something just felt off to me out there. Probably just nerves."

Seng returned his smile and shook her head. "There's nothing to worry about," she said. "It's been almost five years since the Fire Empire retreated; we're part of the New Earth Kingdom now, and we've hardly had any trouble in months. We'll be fine."

"You're probably right," Len said. As the darkness deepened outside, the couple began preparing their evening meal, and had just sat down for it when the wind suddenly howled outside with terrible force. Len ran to the nearest window and opened it, staring out as thick fog began to envelop the entire village, carried by the wind from spirits-knew-where. Swiftly it deepened until the shopkeeper could barely see even an arm's length from his face. Then the wind stopped.

For a moment that felt like an eternity, silence hung over the village, terrible and waiting. Len's eyes narrowed as he stared out into the fog- and then they widened as he saw the shapes that were moving out there in the darkness, shapes unlike anything he had ever seen or imagined…

The next morning, a traveling merchant arrived at the small village, only to discover that it was gone- buildings, people, and animals had been completely wiped from the face of the world. The only clues to their passing were the footprints that covered the entire area where the village had once stood- prints which resembled those of some enormous, terrible bird.

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The throne room of the Fire Nation was a place of solemn, regal majesty. The chamber was immense and lined with countless golden columns, and at its head was the throne itself, watched over by sculpted dragons and wreathed in flames- red flames, for though Fire Lord Jiazin could create the same blue fire that had been her predecessor's hallmark, she preferred not to waste the energy on what was, effectively, decoration. Still, the effect of the room was a potent one even when one was the Fire Lord's friend- Kanoda shuddered to think of what it must have been like when Azula had held sway here.

Today, however, Jiazin wasn't sitting on her throne; instead, she sat across from Kanoda and Aang at a small table the palace servants had brought in, and though she wore her robes of state, she'd removed her crown and placed it in front of her. One hand drummed idly on the table- the other lay still in her lap, covered by a heavy red glove. That hand, Kanoda knew, had been burned and virtually paralyzed by Azula in one of the Dragon Empress's last acts of cruelty. For Jiazin, it was a constant reminder of the legacy of tyranny she'd been doing her hardest to make up for as leader of her people.

As Kanoda finished his story of the rescue of the hostage children, the young Fire Lord shook her head. "Azula has been dead and burned for five years," she said, "but there are still people out there who support what she stood for, and are doing their hardest to bring it back. Sometimes I feel like I'm fighting a battle I can't ever win- it makes me wish I was in one of your old legends, Kanoda, so we could at least get a clean, neat ending."

"Those people we fought weren't all that tough," Aang observed lightly. "I mean, even if we hadn't been there, I don't think your people would have had much trouble with them. If that's the best the renegades have going for them, I don't think you have much to worry about."

"If you hadn't been there, more probably would have gotten hurt," Jiazin said quietly. "But that's not what's really troubling me. I'm a fighter- rebellions and warlords I can understand and I know how to deal with. But there are other problems out there right now, and I think I'm sitting across the table from the only person in the world who will be much help solving them." She gazed meaningfully at Aang.

"Well," he said, "I don't know what kind of problems you're having, but if you think I can help, I'll be there. Righting wrongs and protecting the balance- that what the Avatar's here for, right?"

Jiazin smiled and rapped her good hand lightly on the table, and a moment later a servant entered and handed her a scroll. She unfurled it as he departed, revealing a map of the Earth Kingdom continent, but as Kanoda leaned in for a closer look he saw that it was dotted with red marks, most of which were clustered in the southern regions. "What are those?" he asked, an uncomfortable feeling shooting through him.

"I wish I knew for sure," Jiazin said darkly. "Chaiy and I have been in contact recently, and both of our scouts are reporting strange sightings and phenomena- winds that are unnaturally cold even for the season, fogs appearing when they shouldn't and disappearing without a trace just as quickly, and a handful of sightings of tracks and creatures that don't seem to belong to this world. There are also reports of people vanishing without a trace, but whether it's connected or not isn't clear. But what is clear to me is what's causing this- the Spirit World."

"The Spirit World," Aang breathed. "It's got to be!"

"I agree," Jiazin said. "During Azula's reign, the Moon and Ocean spirits were imprisoned and the balance was thrown off, meaning that the Spirit World was distant from ours. Now, though, with you returned and the spirits freed, the Spirit World is close again- and it looks like something is crossing over, and it's not friendly." She looked at Aang again. "Azula had most of the texts on the subject destroyed, but one I did manage to find said that the Avatar was the bridge between the worlds. If anyone can find out what is causing this- and stop it- it's you."

"Well, I'll try," Aang said, though Kanoda thought that his cheer felt somewhat forced. "Do you have any idea what this is? That could help."

Jiazin shook her head. "With the Fire Sages gone, there isn't anyone I know of who'd have that kind of knowledge. Of course, there are probably some ex-Chosen still out there who have convinced themselves that this is the return of their Empress's immortal spirit, or some such, but I don't credit that. Azula's whole mad scheme was based in her own knowledge that she was going do die- if she thought she could become an immortal spirit, I doubt she'd have bothered. But I don't think that's much for you to go on."

"I can't think of anything from Water Tribe legends off the top of my head that matches what you're describing," Kanoda said, "but there might be a clue somewhere- my people might not be a great power, but we have a long memory. Maybe if Aang and I do find something, I'll be able to recognize it."

"Thank you- both of you," Jiazin said. "I'd wish that the spirits be with you, but under the circumstances, I'm not sure it's entirely appropriate." The Fire Lord allowed herself a smile, which Aang returned before rising and turning to leave. Kanoda lingered for a moment afterwards.

"How's your hand?" he asked quietly.

"The same as always," Jiazin replied in the same tone. She glanced at Aang, who now stood near the door, and then back to Kanoda. "I appreciate how you travel with him, you know. I can't imagine what it's like for him- two centuries out of his own time, with all that comes with being the Avatar on his shoulders- I think he needs a good friend more than anyone can understand."

"He's a good friend himself," Kanoda told her, then smiled. "And besides, someone will have to tell his story someday, right?" Blue eyes locked with gold for a moment, and as Kanoda looked at those features that bore more than a passing resemblance to a portrait he'd once seen of a young Azula, but with an element of pain and conviction the Dragon Empress had never possessed, he thought of a number of things he wanted to say. Finally, unable to give voice to them, he turned away. Taking the map with the marked sightings, he left the room.

\

# # # # # # # # # # # #

Kanoda joined Aang in the corridor outside the throne room; the Avatar had a sly smile on his face. "Not a word," the young Water Tribesman muttered. "She's just my friend. That's it. Move along."

"Yeah. Friend. Right." Aang didn't lose the teasing expression, though he did fall quiet as he and Kanoda made their way down the hallway- uncharacteristically quiet. Finally, when they reached an intersection, he turned to his friend. "I'm worried about this," he said. "I mean, I know I'm supposed to be the Great Bridge Between the Worlds and all that, but before I got captured I really only had to deal with one spirit, and he turned out to not be evil at all- just angry and in pain. I was able to talk to him, and convince him to stop attacking this village he'd been haunting. But this- it's a whole different scale."

"Believe me, I know how you feel," Kanoda said. "I saw the kind of toll the Moon Spirit took on Yue, and it's supposed to be a friendly one- at least in Water Tribe legend. The idea of running up against an actually hostile spirit is honestly pretty terrifying. But somebody's got to do it, and you won't be alone. I'm just one ordinary person, and I'm not sure how much help I'll be, but I'm with you."

Aang smiled. "Thanks," he said, though part of his expression was still troubled. Kanoda thought that he understood why; there was a part of Aang that doubted his own proficiency as the Avatar. During the battle with Azula, he'd been taken out of the fight by a bolt of lightning and nearly died, only for the Empress to be felled (by accident) by one of her own Chosen; later, though he'd easily mastered firebending (helped by Jiazin, probably the best bender of her age in the Fire Nation) and learned earthbending with somewhat greater difficulty, absent a teacher he'd been unable to develop his waterbending beyond a basic level. Together, it meant that Aang's confidence in himself was on some level shaken, though he hid it behind humor and good cheer.

Kanoda shook himself out of his thoughts and turned back to Aang. "Before we leave, though," he said, "there's one more thing I want to do."

"This is the same thing you do every time we're here, isn't it?" Aang asked. "Kanoda, you know that the monks raised me to believe that we should have compassion for everyone and all, but… she give me the creeps. I mean, knowing what she used to be, and what she is now, and…" the Avatar's voice trailed off, expression uncertain.

Kanoda sighed. "I know it's probably stupid, but after that whole business with Azula and what it did to her mind, a part of me just feels sorry for her." He drew in a deep breath, then let it out. "I want to visit Shiyan."

AN: Jiazin will only be having a small role in "Legacy", owing as to how she was basically the main character in "Fall" and I felt other people needed a chance to shine. "Legacy" will be, at its core, Aang and Kanoda's story.


	4. Chapter 3: The BestLaid Plans

**Chapter 3: The Best-Laid Plans**

The streets of Chanjie were not suited for military parades. The city was built around the summit of a three-peaked mountain, and as such its roads were narrow as they wound their way tightly through the numerous rising levels. Still, Li Shang saw value in such displays, for they inspired pride in loyal subjects and fear in the minds of traitors, and therefore he'd found a handful of streets wide enough to allow for a decent show.

The King of the Southern Territories stood on a platform that had been erected on one side of what had been a marketplace in old Omashu, before the Fire Nation had cleared it out. He was clad in his best ceremonial armor and held his helmet under one arm, while behind him were seven elite firebenders who looked exactly like what they were- highly trained and competent bodyguards alert to any threat to their lord. Chen stood at Li Shang's right hand, flanked by five of his ministers; to the king's left was Aitan, her expression as coldly unreadable as ever, accompanied by five of her acolytes- three men and two women- who were dressed, like their mistress, in black, though their faces were unpainted.

Spread out before them marched a series of formations of red-clad soldiers, alternating between larger groups of ordinary warriors and smaller ones of firebenders, broken occasionally by a pair of tanks or other war machines that had been created in Chanjie's factories. It was nothing compared to the armies the Fire Empire had fielded in its prime, but it was as impressive a display as Chen's bureaucrats had been able to fit inside the city- and it was only a small portion of the full strength Li Shang could muster. His people had no love for their king, but they both respected and feared him- and that was enough to ensure that a good portion of them would be willing to serve in his army.

Of course, there were still some who resisted his rule- but then, Li Shang had learned long ago that the only thing that stopped rebels from acting against you was a well-aimed fireblast, coupled with a sharp blade for good measure.

Chen leaned in close to whisper to his king. "It seems to be going well, Majesty," he murmured while gesturing to the crowds of observers who gathered at the edges of the square. "I believe that the event will be able to conclude without incident."

Li Shang snorted. "Don't be a fool, Chen," he replied. "They'll try something, of course- the only question that remains is what, and when."

# # # # # # # # # # # #

Tsang crouched atop a building on the edge of the square, keeping himself low so as not to be observed while he fixed his gaze at the elaborately-armored man on the platform. Though it was hard to tell for sure from this distance- it could be a double- his gut told him that he was looking at the tyrant who had swept in mere months after the Dragon Empress's downfall and placed burdens on Omashu's- he refused to even think the name Chanjie- people that even the Empire never had. Tsang had known too many himself who had been worked nearly to death in Li Shang's factories, or merely executed out of hand as part of his attempts to quash rebellion in his city. Today wouldn't see true justice done- not unless they got very lucky- but it would be a beginning.

Turning, he gestured to the young man who crouched beside him. Bhin was barely seventeen- almost two years younger than Tsang- but he was already as skilled an earthbender as one could expect in this city where you could be killed if you were caught making any attempt to master that art. He gave his leader a cocky grin and lifted one of his hands, bouncing what appeared to be a small pebble in his palm. Bhin gave a few more tosses, seemingly testing the projectile, and then fired it into the air above the parade, where it exploded into a brilliant blast of color and sound. Tsang smiled tightly. Now it was time for the real action to begin.

In the center of the square, the parade came to a halt as the soldiers turned to stare at the signal above them while their commanding officers shouted orders. On the platform, Li Shang seemed to be staring at the commotion intently but otherwise was making no move; at his side, his chief minister was becoming frantic while the wraithlike figure of Aitan was deathly still. Tsang put the king and his associates out of his mind for the time being; they weren't what this was about.

Starting near the outside of the square the ground began to shake, and as the crowds began to hurriedly and fearfully disperse, several large boulders began to roll at unnatural speeds between the buildings, each propelled by two of the underground's finest benders. They careened directly onto the parade ground, scattering the soldiers and slamming into the tanks, doing serious damage even to the thickly armored vehicles. The rebels allowed themselves to be seen briefly from their positions among the buildings, and shouts of "Down with Li Shang!" and "Death to the Fire Nation!" could be heard from all sides. Then the rebels dispersed as quickly as they had appeared, and the soldiers charged off down the side streets after them.

Tsang smiled fiercely and turned to climb down the back of his building. The soldiers would never find the rebels where they were holed up in their tunnels, safe-houses, and even sewers, but they would be led a merry chase and Li Shang's big show had certainly been ruined. He even allowed himself to feel rather good about the whole affair, until Bhin grabbed his arm. "Tsang," the earthbender murmured, pointing out across the square. "Is he supposed to be doing that?"

Tsang turned in the direction his friend was pointing and narrowed his eyes and what he saw. "No," he growled angrily. "Yan, you _idiot!" _As the soldiers dispersed through the streets, Tsang could see a figure crouching on the roof opposite him, directly above Li Shang's platform. The rebel leader understood what his comrade-in-arms was feeling, and why- Yan's brother had been killed by Li Shang's forces- but alone and with no planning was not the way to attack this tyrant. He apparently thought that with the army gone, the king would be vulnerable, but taking the fact that his target was a master firebender surrounded by bodyguards, Yan's likelihood of surviving, much less succeeding, was abysmally low. Tsang couldn't even shout a warning at him without giving his own position away.

Still, he found that he couldn't look away as Yan leaped onto the platform directly in front of Li Shang and dropped into an earthbending stance.

# # # # # # # # # # # #

Li Shang almost found himself laughing as he faced the earthbender- an unremarkable-looking man who seemed to be in his mid-twenties or so, his limbs well-muscled and eyes burning with hate. "Well," the king said, "I admit that I thought the rebellion might make an attempt on my life, but I find myself doubting that even they were foolish enough to think you alone would be able to do the job. I would presume you are acting on your own, yes?" Li Shang shook his head. "Remarkable how little these earthbenders know of true discipline."

"Your reign ends today, murderer!" the earthbender growled, shifting his stance forward. One of Li Shang's bodyguards raised his hands to blast the would-be assassin with fire, but the king waved him back. He stepped closer to face his assailant directly.

"May have tried to kill me," he said softly. "Would you like to see if you will get lucky? Or will you join my other enemies in death?"

The provocation had its desired effect. Li Shang smiled as the earthbender lunged forward, not even bothering to manipulate his element- but before he could lay a hand on his target, a slender black-clad figure blurred into motion, knocking the rebel several feet back across the stage. Aitan was no longer one of the Empress's Chosen, but the death-priestess had never forgotten where she came from- much as Li Shang found her personally distasteful, he always found that he enjoyed watching her in action.

The earthebender pulled himself back to his feet and raised his hands sharply, pulling a boulder up through the stage from the ground and then launching it directly at Aitan with a kick. She darted lightly to one side, then dodged the other way as he attempted to strike her again, her evasion seemingly effortless. Then she darted forward, a black-and-white blur, fists shooting out in a series of quick, precise jabs. The eartbender fell backward, immobilized with horror written on his features. A faint shiver of unease shot through Li Shang; chi-blocking was a difficult discipline that few even among the Chosen had mastered, but Aitan was among them- perhaps the only practitioner of that art in his entire domain. It was one of the many factors that made her a powerful tool- and potentially, a deadly enemy.

"Too easy," Aitan muttered, a trace of disappointment evident in her voice. She turned back to face the king. "The rebel assassin is subdued. What do you wish his fate to be?"

Li Shang strode casually over and looked down at the paralyzed man. The earthbender's face and mouth were unfrozen by the chi-blocking, but the man had fallen silent nonetheless- no doubt in shock and horror over what had just happened to him. Aitan's techniques often had that effect on those who were unfamiliar with them. The king gave his captive a slight kick, then turned back to his advisor. "You and your order may keep him," he said. "I believe that the Empress's servants would best suited to extracting information from him regarding the whereabouts of his associates- I doubt my troops will turn up anything definite today. If whoever is running the rebels has any sense at all, they'll be running us on a wild lemur chase."

"Of course," Aitan said, a ghost of a smile touching her lips. Li Shang had seen just enough of her interrogation techniques to know that even he, a hardened soldier, didn't want to know much more detail, and judging from the look of horror on the captive's face, even he had heard stories. "He may try to hold out on us, but in the end, by the power of the Dragon Empress, he will tell us all he knows." She gestured to her acolytes, who ran forward and hefted the earthbender between them. Aitan nodded briefly to Li Shang and Lord Chen each, and then she and her retinue turned and departed from the stage.

"Majesty," Chen said when she was gone, "what are you going to about the rebels while we wait for her? If you don't act, they'll think you're weak."

"Have no fear of that," Li Shang said calmly. "I think I will order random captives taken- perhaps ten or so- and publicly executed. That will remind them of the cost of crossing me." The king turned to leave the stage and motioned for his bodyguards to accompany him. Chen looked out over where the crowds had stood, gulped audibly, and then hurried after his master.

# # # # # # # # # # # #

"Tsang," Bhin hissed as they departed, "what are we going to do? You can't just leave Yan with that- that ghost-woman. Spirits know what she'll do to him!" He looked at his leader expectantly, fear written in his features. He knew that it wasn't in his leader's character to leave anyone behind if he could avoid it, but at the same time, he was clearly upset by the whole debacle. Tsang couldn't blame him; he felt the same way.

"We couldn't have just gone charging down there," the rebel leader reminded his friend. "Li Shang and his bodyguards would have cut us to ribbons- to say nothing of Aitan and whatever her creepy followers can do. But don't worry. I'm not going to leave Yan as a captive." He gave a tight, cold smile. "I think that this is a job that we'll need a little inside help on- and I think I know where we can find it."

Bhin looked uneasy; he knew who his leader was referring to, and they were someone he wasn't at all sure they should trust. Tsang had never felt reason to doubt them before, but considering how important this would be, he found himself desperately hoping the earthbender was wrong.


	5. Chapter 4: Ghosts

**Chapter 4: Ghosts**

It had once been a temple dedicated to the Earth Spirits, this building that rose almost directly from the wall of Chanjie, and though it had been since repainted in black and red, its architecture still reflected this, lower and rounder than the angular spires of the temples of the Fire Sages. For nearly a hundred years it had stood abandoned, the sages it had once housed outlawed by the Fire Empire, though superstition remained strong enough to keep it from being torn down entirely. Now, in this new era after the Dragon Empress's downfall, the temple had found a new master, and new purpose.

Its upper halls remained halls of worship and contemplation, though they now venerated not the ancient spirits but a new one- Azula, the firebender so great she had ascended beyond death. The catacombs beneath the temple, however, which had been delved so that the sages could commune with the living rock and bury their own within it, now housed the cells of prisoners King Li Shang allowed his most enigmatic advisor to interrogate.

Though a combination of fear and defiance played across the captive earthbender's face, he did not cry out as the temple acolytes bound him against the wall, knowing that sooner or later he would regain the use of his limbs, and they knew better than to allow a bender freedom of movement when surrounded by his element. Task done, they withdrew slowly, bowing to their mistress as she came to stand before her captive.

Yan studied Aitan's face as she came to stand before him, careful to show no sign of weakness even has a chill crawled across his skin. Everyone in the resistance- spirits, everyone in Chanjie- knew who the former Chosen was, and they knew that she was someone to be feared. She seemed young, because he skin was unwrinkled and she moved like a warrior in her prime, but it was impossible to truly tell anything from that dead-white face. Even her eyes seemed empty- but Yan realized that she wasn't simply uncaring. Rather, her entire will was focused on something else, something no one else could see or experience, and the world in front of her was only a distraction from her true work.

"You think you're very brave, don't you?" Aitan whispered as she reached out and brushed the fingers of one hand against Yan's face, causing him to flinch involuntarily. "You must, in order to do what you did today- to try and kill Li Shang, a renowned warrior and firebender, all by yourself. But in so doing, you set yourself against the Empress, and that is not bravery, because you cannot possibly win. It is only foolishness."

"Your Empress is ashes," Yan spat at her. "And that's all you'll be once my friends find you!"

"Really?" Aitan asked, giving a soft, mirthless laugh. If she was at all irritated or offended by his remark, she didn't show it. "The Empress guides me still from beyond. To think she has been defeated is your mistake. But I will teach you otherwise. The discipline I used to disable you has so many other uses, and together we shall explore them. You'll tell me everything you know about your friends, and then you'll beg for release."

She ran her hand down Yan's face and along the side of his neck, then suddenly stiffened her fingers and stabbed them quick and sharp into a specific point near the base. Agony such as he had never imagined shot through Yan's whole body, and despite his best efforts, he threw his head back and screamed.*

Unseen to both rebel and former Chosen, one of the dark robed acolytes turned and hurried from the chamber.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

The young woman had lived in the Fire Nation palace for more than five years now, and though she did not understand it, she was a prisoner. She knew that guards followed her wherever she went on the rare occasions she was allowed to leave her rooms, but she was certain that they were only there to keep her safe. It never occurred to her that they were there to keep others safe from her, for though she looked like a woman in her late teens, mentally there was an almost childlike innocence about her, born of the fact that she had no clear memories going back before her life in the palace. Only two things remained to her from the time before- language (for she had been able to speak and understand for as long as she remembered) and her name: Shiyan.

Once she had been a novice member of the Empress's Chosen, considered by her instructors to be unmatched among her peers in terms of ruthlessness, skill, and devotion to her Empress. In the end, those very qualities proved her undoing, for they led her too, in a case of mistaken identity, kill Azula by her own sword. When she realized what she had done, her mind was so consumed by guilt and shame that it had buried itself within her, so that the new Shiyan knew nothing of her own history. At times she felt a strange desire to hold a sword- despite the fact that she had no skill with any weapon, so far as she knew- and her dreams were often haunted by the image of a golden mask, cast in the image of a snarling dragon, staring at her accusingly from amid a sea of blue fire. But her conscious mind could make nothing of these things, and so she preferred not to think about them.

Only one person other than her guards visited her regularly, and Shiyan leaped to her feet as she saw him step inside her doorway. "Kanoda!" she called, running over to him and wrapping her arms around him. "I missed you."

"Hi, Shiyan," he said softly, extricating himself from her embrace. He never seemed to like it when she hugged or touched him, for some reason; she assumed it was because he was a warrior and just didn't like being touched in general, because lots of people must have attacked him. That they'd been bitter enemies in her previous life hadn't ever occurred to her. "Here- I brought you something."

Kanoda reached into his belt pouch and withdrew a small black stone with a complex white sea-shell embedded in it, standing out dramatically against the background. Shiyan grinned widely when she saw it and clutched it tightly. "I love it," she said. "Where'd you get it?"

"Ember Island," the Water Tribe warrior said. "The beaches there are really something, though Aang and I didn't exactly have much time to sightsee. We had… other things to take care of." He looked back at her and smiled sadly. "I guess we have to do that a lot- it doesn't leave much time for friends."

"Well, I'm just glad you're back," Shiyan said, smiling again. "It gets lonely when you're gone. No one else seems to like to talk to me, for some reason."

Kanoda looked troubled at that, then shook his head. "I'm sorry, Shiyan, but I can't stay. Fire Lord Jiazin wants Aang and I to investigate something that might be very bad- it may have something to do with very bad spirits. I just wanted to talk to you before I left, see how you're doing, and give you your gift."

"I'm fine- why wouldn't I be?" Shiyan said, laughing. "I think it's you we should be worried about- whatever you're going to have to do, it sounds really dangerous. I wish I could help you, but I don't even know how to fight, much less firebend, and I've never even left the palace as far as I can remember. I'd just get in the way. But since I can't do anything else- good luck!" She hugged him again.

"Thanks a lot, Shiyan," Kanoda said, stepping back and smiling at her. "Don't worry- we'll be back. Maybe I'll be able to find a present for you from the Earth Kingdom." He always gave her small gifts every time he came to visit- it was one reason why Shiyan looked forward to seeing him so much. Not only was he the only person who talked to her, but he brought her mementoes of places she'd never seen and could barely imagine.

"That'd be great!" Shiyan said excitedly. "Well, I guess I'll see you when you get back, then. Say hello to Aang for me, okay?"

"I'll do it," he promised. "See you in a few weeks, Shiyan." Giving one last smile, he turned and left the room. Shiyan stood alone in the middle of the floor for several moments after he'd gone and then went back to her low couch, red robe rustling on the floor behind her. Taking her seat, she turned the black rock over and over in her hands, staring at the shell trapped within.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

"So, how was she?" Aang as Kanoda as the young Water Tribesman rejoined him in the palace courtyard.

"Same as ever," Kanoda said, shrugging. "If I didn't know better, I'd say she was a completely different person from Shiyan the Chosen- she's so sweet and happy and, well, innocent all the time. You know, she never really got a chance to be a child, with the crazy way the Chosen were trained and all- maybe she's trying to get that back." He shrugged. "Whatever the reason, she certainly acts more like an excitable twelve-year-old than a woman pushing twenty."

"I've never heard of anything quite like it," Aang said, looking back at the main palace building. "But then, when you think about what she did… that's a pretty big thing she must've wanted to forget. That can't be good for a person."

"Well, she's safe now, both from the outside world and from herself, and I think that's the best we can hope for." Kanoda turned to Aang. "Are you ready to go?"

"Let's do this," the Avatar said, smiling. Even though they were heading against foes they didn't understand and potentially had no way to fight, the airbender was always eager for a new adventure.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

Shiyan put the scroll down, rubbing her forehead. Normally she loved reading the old Fire Nation poetry, whether it was the old stories, odes of love, or just descriptions of the world around the poet, but today she couldn't concentrate. The headaches had started today after Kanoda left, though they'd been coming at about this time for the last several days. She'd told her guards about them, and they'd called in the palace herbalist, who'd made her drink a really bad-smelling concoction. It hadn't helped, but she'd told them that it had. She didn't really want to find out what the herbalist would have made her drink next- sometimes, the cure was worse than the disease!

Now, Shiyan was starting to regret that decision.

Clutching her gift from Kanoda, she started turning it over in her hands, staring at the twisting patterns of the shell, but they brought her no comfort. Snarling, she tossed it away and stood, planting her hands on the back of her couch and staring out of her window. It was almost dusk, and the sun was sinking towards the horizon, touching the edge of the crater around the inner Capital with orange light like a dying fire…

Shiyan drew a deep, shuddering breath and stood, shaking her head, trying to clear the confusion from it. Then she looked down at her hands, and barely stifled a gasp. How had her fingernails gotten so long? They'd been cut short, practical for a warrior, just a few moments ago… hadn't they? Shocked, she stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over the hem of her… robe? Why was she wearing a noblewoman's robe? Where was her armor, her sword? Was this a dream? She knew some of the other Chosen sometimes had dreams about the person they might have been if they hadn't been selected shortly after birth for the Empress's elite order, but it had never happened to her before. Shiyan was content in who she was, could imagine no other life.

Struggling to regain her composure, she looked around the room she'd found herself in. This wasn't the guest chamber at the governor's palace of Long Du Shi! And where was Cheng? They were supposed to be hunting the waterbender and the spy, weren't they, for the Empress? The Empress…

Shiyan remembered.

"No," she moaned, sinking to her knees, "no, no, no, I didn't mean to do it, I didn't…" Guilt and horror overwhelmed her, and she clawed at her head- and then, suddenly, another thought was there, in her head. Somehow, she was two people at once, Shiyan the Chosen warrior, and Shiyan the girl to whom the room and the robe and the long nails belonged. _I don't know who you are_ this new thought seemed to say, _but I want you out… OUT!_

Shiyan gasped and sat up. It was dark out now, but that couldn't be right. It had been dusk just a moment ago. She tried to think, to remember where that time had gone- and flashes came to her, of the other Shiyan who had appeared out of nowhere and taken over her mind. That couldn't be her, and yet at the same time those thoughts and memories felt at least as right as the ones she thought of as her own. Maybe even more right…

She stared down at her hands in horror, wondering if they really had done the things she had snatches of memory regarding. Those snatches were fading rapidly now, but Shiyan knew somehow that they'd be back, that this had happened before and would happen again- and it was getting stronger. Someday, the Other Shiyan would get so strong that she'd take hold and wouldn't let go.

"What's happening to me?" she whispered in horror to herself, frightened tears sliding down her face.

* Just noting that Aitan isn't technically using physical torture methods on Yan- she's manipulating his chi to inflict intense pain without actually harming his body. It's a darker, more mystical variation on Ty Lee's chi-based paralysis techniques, albeit one I don't think she'd ever consider using. Aitan, though, being nasty even by Chosen standards, has no such qualms.


	6. Chapter 5: In the Dark Temple

**Chapter 5: In the Dark Temple**

Tsang ducked under an overhanging scaffold as he made his way alone across the base on Chanjie, just beneath the outer wall. Ever since Li Shang had come to power, this place had been in a state of perpetual renovation as new and more powerful war machines were installed along it, fortifying the city against all who might attack it- and emphasizing all the more that even though the Empire had collapsed, the cradle of earthbending remained in Fire Nation hands. Normally this part of town was off-limits to all but soldiers and work crews, but Tsang was dressed in a stolen workers uniform and had a scroll with forged orders from one of the king's generals stuck through his belt. Unless he was unlucky enough to run across Li Shang himself, he was as safe here as anywhere- at least, until he reached his destination.

Aitan's temple rose out of the night, its ominous silhouette lit by blue torches- a chemical mix granting the natural fires the same hue as the ones Azula herself had once controlled. Tsang could see the main entrance from here, doors shut and guarded by firebending soldiers, but he skirted around to where the back of the building brushed up against the wall. There, at the base of the temple, was a small wooden door which was normally kept locked. Taking a deep breath and knowing full well that if something had gone wrong it could be his last, Tsang stepped forward and rapped lightly against it with the back of one fist.

After a moment, the door opened and a slender figure in black stepped out, hurriedly glancing from one side to the other before reaching out and wrapping her arms tightly around the rebel leader. As she pulled back she let her hood fall, revealing not the dead-white features of Aitan, but a girl about Tsang's own age. "You're here!" she whispered. "I knew you'd want to come, after what happened, but I didn't know if you'd be able to make it. It's horrible in there- even more than usual, I mean! Aitan's all fired up after capturing Yan, and she's been doing… things to him. I couldn't watch for very long."

"But he is alive?" Tsang asked.

"Yes," the girl replied. "And I know where he's being held. It won't be easy, but I think we'll be able to put together a rescue mission for him."

Tsang smiled for what felt like the first time in hours. "I don't know what we'd do without you, Zai," he told her and clapped her shoulder. The false acolyte smiled back at him.

"Flounder around helplessly, I suppose," she said with a faint ghost of a laugh. Tsang and Zai had grown up in the same neighborhood and had always been close friends, but while he had dreamed of freedom for his people from a young age, her thoughts always turned to more spiritual matters- not in the form of the quasi-mystical connection to their element that a bender possessed, but the contemplative spirituality that had once, so it was said, characterized the sages. This leaning had drawn her to explore the few scraps that remained of the ancient lore of the Earth Kingdom, and when Aitan had arrived in the city, Zai had been drawn to her at first by genuine fascination.

Former Chosen though she was, Aitan did not care about one's ancestral background. All that mattered now was one's devotion to the Empress. Zai had entered her order in the hopes of finding spiritual fulfillment, but had been horrified by the depth of the fanaticism and ruthlessness of this strange Azula-worship. Instead of openly revealing herself and becoming just another dead traitor, however, she had continued to openly profess her loyalty while secretly spying on the temple on behalf of Tsang and the rebellion.

Reaching into her robe, Zai withdrew a small scroll and passed it to her friend. Unrolling it, he found himself looking over a diagram of the temple, with the cell where Yan was held marked in red. "This is great," Tsang muttered. "With this, we can get him tonight!"

"No, we can't," Zai said. "He's chained to a wall, and the only one with the key is Aitan- and she's up at the palace tonight. Besides, if we got caught, it would accomplish nothing but getting us strung up next to him. You need more warriors and a plan before you can get Yan out of this place."

"You're probably right," Tsang said. "But still, I can't just leave after making it here. I need to see Yan, tell him that he's not alone and that his friends are coming for him. Can you help me do that?"

"Why do I have the feeling you're going to be the death of me?" Zai muttered, but her barb had no edge. Darting back through the door, she came back with a dark cloak similar to her own. "Here, put this on- I thought you might want to try something this insane. You might not think it, there are people who really believe in the things Aitan teaches, and they wear cloaks like these when they come to the temple. If you wear this, I'll probably be able to get you in and out in one piece- if you don't make a scene!"

Tsang smirked. "When have I ever done something like that?" Quickly, he pulled the cloak over his shoulders and fastened it, then followed Zai into the temple. The door swung shut behind him, and suddenly a chill stole through the rebel leader, as if some terrible beast had snapped its jaws shut around him and would never let him go while it lived.

The corridor was long and dark, lit every so often by torches- ordinarily-colored ones, unlike those outside. The walls were black and devoid of decoration- Tsang wondered if they'd been painted that way by Aitan to cover up Earth Sage designs, though he decided that it was more likely this out-of-the-way part of the temple basement had never been decorated at all. They passed through several turns and intersections that made little sense to the rebel leader, though Zai seemed to know her way around just fine; finally, they came to an iron door and passed through it.

Inside was a small, bare room that was vacant except for the man who hung from the chains on one wall- Yan himself. He was stripped to the waist and showed no sign of injury on his body, but from the way his body twitched even in sleep, Tsang knew that his comrade was far from well. "What happened to him?" he asked quietly.

"Aitan did this… thing, with his chi," Zai replied. "I don't know how, or even what exactly it was, but it obviously hurt a lot- and as you can tell, it didn't leave marks." Her voice dropped even lower. "I've seen her do some scary things… but I think that's the worst. Using someone's own spiritual energy to torture them is one of the most terrible crimes I can think of."

"We'll find a way to make her pay," Tsang muttered angrily. Stepping forward, he pulled back his hood and rested a hand on Yan's shoulder. The rebel shook himself and opened his eyes, and for a moment he stared vacantly before focusing on his leader and sighing in relief.

"Tsang- is that really you?" he asked. "Thought it was Aitan again." He shivered. "I guess I deserve this- attacking Li Shang was stupid, stupid thing to do, but that smug tyrant had it coming. Guess it won't be me who does him in, though."

Tsang narrowed his eyes. "We're going to get you out of here," he said. "We can't tonight- Aitan's gone and she took the keys with her, and it's not like you can bend yourself loose all chained up like that. But help _is_ coming, and we're going to throw Li Shang out of this city and send Aitan to meet her precious Empress in person. Don't give up- we're coming for you, I promise."

"Thanks," Yan said. "Now get out of here. Believe me- you _don't_ want to be where I am, and if they catch you…"

"I understand." Tsang stood and pulled his hood up, then turned to walk back to the door. Before he left, he looked back over his shoulder at Yan. "Remember- we're coming." Yan smiled grimly as his leader departed and swung the cell door shut.

"Now let's get out of here," Zai said, and Tsang nodded emphatically. They turned and began to head back down the corridor, but before they had gotten far a man emerged from a side hallway. He was dressed in the same robes as Zai, and though he took in Tsang's cloak and hood, it was clear that he did not believe for a second that one of their adherents had any place this deep in the temple.

The man opened his mouth to shout, but before he got the words out the rebel leader was on him. Tsang caught the acolyte with a flying kick to the chest that sent him reeling, then knocked his head hard against the wall where he slid down, unconscious. Zai hurried over to stand beside him.

"Not good," she said. "He saw us together- I could have explained things away, but then you had to attack him. What did I say about making a scene?"

"Sorry- I don't think talking was going to convince that guy." Bending down, the rebel leader noticed a scroll protruding from the unconscious man's robes. He pulled it out and unrolled it- the words were meaningless to him as he scanned over them, but the illustration at the top caught his eye- it showed a dragonlike serpent encircling the world, biting its own tail. He showed it to Zai. "Any idea what this is?"

"It's a prophecy," she said. "Aitan's been making us study it, but I didn't think it was important. It's pre-Earth Kingdom, is all I know- apparently she doesn't much care where here esoterica comes from, as long as it's appropriately creepy."

"I'll take it with me, just in case," Tsang said, rolling the scroll up and sticking it through his belt. "Look, we need to conceal that we were working together- it needs to look like I attacked you too. We're close enough that I think I can manage to get out on my own."

"All right," Zai said, a dubious look on her face. "I hope this works." Falling into a fighting stance, she leapt at Tsang; he blocked her blow and struck the side of her head, sending her falling to the ground near the male acolyte, equally unconscious.

"Sorry," he said softly, before turning and taking off down the corridor at a run, hoping that his friend was clever enough to talk her way out of her predicament, hoping that he didn't meet any more of Aitan's followers, and wondering what exactly it was he found himself in possession of.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

Cheng knelt beside the strange footprint, running a gloved finger across the bottom and then holding it up in front of her eyes. It looked like plain, ordinary dirt, and she wasn't sure why she'd expected something different- except, of course, for the fact that the creature that had made this almost certainly came from the Spirit World. _That_ wasn't something you saw every day.

Standing up, she surveyed the area around her. Here, in the middle of a forest, was a flat clearing where a village had been only a few weeks ago. Now, some malevolent force had completely wiped away any trace of there ever having been human habitation here. Even the birds seemed to be aware of it- the ostrich-horse that Cheng had acquired at the last village she'd been it shifted from one foot to the other nervously, and in the trees its smaller cousins made no sound. The whole place felt disturbingly lifeless- and the only sign of what had done it was the tracks on the ground, which looked like they'd been themselves made by a bird, albeit an oversized, predatory one. Even the ostrich-horse's prints were far smaller.

Cheng didn't know much about the spirits, and the only one she'd heard of that might leave tracks like that was Wan Shi Tong, the Keeper of Knowledge. Still, the few vague stories she'd heard suggested he wasn't the type to do something like this. Besides, last she'd checked there was only one of him- and these tracks suggested that there had been several of the spirits here.

Walking away from the former village, she swung up onto the back of her ostrich-horse and kicked him into motion, following where the tracks led. A part of Cheng's mind still rebelled at this- after all, one of the Empress's Chosen shouldn't be wasting her time chasing spirits. But Cheng was no longer Chosen, hadn't been for more than five years now, and she needed no other reason to pursue this mystery other than the fact that it fascinated her as much as it repelled her.

And so she followed the spirit trail where it led- south. Always and ever south.


	7. Chapter 6: Out of the Past

**Chapter 6: Out of the Past**

_Shiyan ran down an endless dark corridor, tripping over her robes in her haste. Something was after her, something so awful that she couldn't even imagine what it would do to her when it caught her, knowing only that it would be terrible beyond words. The walls were lined with portraits of women in identical black armor whose faces were painted gold- she had never seen them before, but she knew them all the same, and they regarded her with disapproval. _

_ Finally she reached the end of the hall, but came up short in despair- the way was blocked by a solid wall of orange flames. In despair, she turned back the way she came, and screamed as she saw her pursuer- another fiery wall, this one a strange, cold blue. Shiyan raised an arm across her face and waited for the blue flames to slam into her, but the expected burning sensation never came. Instead the fiery wall stopped feet from her, and within it she could barely discern a shadowed human figure. _

_ "Shiyan," the figure said, its voice female and utterly devoid of mercy. "We have matters to discuss. You have crimes for which to atone." _

_ "No, I don't!" the young woman shouted. "I'm not her- you've got the wrong Shiyan. I never did anything to you!" _

_ "You did," the fiery shadow said. "But you have forgotten. You have forgotten who you are, forgotten what you've done, but mere denial cannot erase your past. You have made a new life for yourself who is kind, and compassionate, and trusting- but useless. You have buried your true self, but hiding from your crimes does not absolve you of them. And yet I am not entirely unforgiving. You may yet have a chance to serve." _

_ "What… what do you mean?" Shiyan asked, wrapping her arms tightly around herself in fear. _

_ The shadow stepped out of the flames, revealing a figure wrapped in rich red robes, its face concealed behind a snarling dragon-mask. It reached out one gloved hand and placed it almost tenderly on Shiyan's forehead, and as it did so her robes melted away, replaced by armor like that the women in the portraits wore. They were smiling now. _

_ "Rise, my Chosen," Empress Azula said. "For I have need of you once more." _

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

Shiyan came awake suddenly and sat up in her bed with both hands on her head, which felt as if it would split down the middle. Somehow, she was two people at once inside the same mind, and she could hear herself screaming as they struggled for control. The one she had become at the end of her dream- Shiyan of the Chosen- and slowly but surely she forced her counterpart down into the depths of her mind. She was not destroyed- perhaps she could not be, after having lived for years in this body- but for now, she was no longer a factor.

Shiyan stood and breathed deeply. She felt more alive, more in control, than she had felt in years- and she remembered Other Shiyan's life in the palace, though it was hazy and indistinct. More than that, she had a purpose, a duty, gifted by the Empress herself from beyond the grave. That meant she _wasn't_ guilty, wasn't the worst criminal the order of Chosen had ever produced… didn't it? A nagging voice in the back of her mind- Other Shiyan, perhaps- said that it didn't really work that way, but she ignored it. Of course it did. It had to.

Slowly, she slipped to the door and opened it a crack so she could see the two guards who stood just outside- could she have ever really been so naïve as to think they were here for _her_ protection?- and smiled tightly. She had been docile so long that they would not suspect a thing. Perfect.

She opened the door completely, and both guards turned to face her. "Lady Shiyan," one of them said, "we didn't realize you were awake. Is there something we can do for you?"

"As a matter of fact, there is," Shiyan said, and then she struck. It had been years since she'd fought, but to the part of her that was now in control it felt almost like yesterday, with the intervening years a dream. She leaped into the air and lashed out with one arm, taking the guard in the throat and smashing him against the wall. He slid to the floor, whimpering.

The other guard was more wary, and a firebender. He circled Shiyan slowly, eyes disbelieving but hands raised to strike. "I don't understand," he said. "We knew what you were- but why now? Why wait for so long?"

"Because I was lost," Shiyan told him. "But now I am found." Dodging under the man's hands, she swung out her legs and knocked his own out from under him. The guard fell hard, and then the Chosen quickly tore off his helm and struck him in the head with it. He fell back and lay still- dead or unconscious, she didn't know or care. Either served her purpose.

Walking back to the first guard, she pulled his sword from his belt and held it up- it was no Chosen's katana, but it would do for now. Strapping it around her waist, she began to make her way down the hallway and towards freedom.

In the back of her mind, she could almost hear Other Shiyan sobbing.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

Pausing only long enough to pull a glove over her crippled hand, Jiazin practically ran down the palace corridors with her bodyguards trailing behind her. In her good hand she held her sword, the cold blue flames which wreathed the blade lighting their way. Finally, she reached the door of Shiyan's chamber and found it standing open, the two guards lying before it- one was still prone, while the other had sat up and was rubbing his throat. The guards Jiazin had brought with her- including the one who'd alerted her to the situation- fanned out down the hall.

The Fire Lord knelt before the sitting guard. "What happened here?" she asked.

"Majesty!" the guard rasped, a relieved look washing over his face. "It was Shiyan herself who did it- she just attacked us without warning, and when I came to she was gone. I didn't even know she remembered how to fight- she's normally so innocent and almost sweet, but tonight she was single-minded, vicious. I've never seen her like this before."

"I have," Jiazin said darkly. So Shiyan had found herself again after five years- it seemed so unlikely, but the evidence was plain to see before her. Why now? Jiazin couldn't say, for she did not understand the way the former Chosen's fractured mind worked, but obviously the "innocent" girl who'd lived in the palace these last years was gone, and the enemy who had pursued Kanoda over half the world and once would have almost certainly killed Jiazin herself in a duel if the earthbender Tong had not intervened had returned. However one looked at it, this was bad news. Very bad.

"Majesty!" a businesslike female voice called. Jiazin stood and smoothed her sleeping robe as she turned to face the Captain of her guards, a woman who had once been one of the Chosen. She belonged to a faction which had decided that with Azula dead, their loyalty lay to whoever sat on the Fire Lord's throne, and she had been one of the first of these to pledge their loyalty to Jiazin. The new Fire Lord didn't trust all of these former Chosen, but she'd found the Captain to be both competent and reliable.

"What do you have to report?" Jiazin asked as the Captain approached; every inch the soldier, the woman was intimidating even in a typical Fire Army uniform rather than her former black armor and golden war paint. The other guards quickly fell in behind her.

"My warriors have checked all the entrances," she said after giving a slight, but respectful, bow. "We found a side entrance open, its guard dead. We won't know for sure until we find her, but I'm of the opinion that Shiyan is no longer in the palace." The Captain was all business- if she had any emotional reaction to the escape of her former "sister", she didn't allow it to show.

"I figured that would happen," Jiazin muttered angrily. "Blast it! I think she must be after something, but it's probably not me, or she would have hidden and waited for a chance to kill me here. Whatever it is, I doubt it's anything good. Captain, I want you to alert the city guard here in the Capital and in nearby cities and towns- tell them what happened and give them a description of Shiyan and a warning about how dangerous she is." The Fire Lord's golden eyes hardened. "We're _not_ going to let her get away."

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

Kanoda stood on the deck of the Fire Nation ship he and Aang had bought passage on- Benchi was a fast, strong swimmer, but neither of them wanted to force the eel-hound to cross an entire ocean by himself- and stared up at the full moon. As the spirit Tui it had always been reverenced by the Water Tribes as the original waterbender, but for Kanoda, it was a perpetual reminder of the remarkable person who had sacrificed her life in order to undo one of the Fire Empire's greatest crimes.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Aang. "Do you miss her?" he asked.

"Yue? Yeah." Kanoda hung his head. "I didn't know her very long- a couple of months, maybe- but she was a great person and a living link to the past and heritage the Fire Empire tried to take from my people. She was almost like something straight out of our old legends."

"I wish I'd known her," Aang said. "Not just because of what you said, but because she was the last real waterbender- it would've been amazing to learn waterbending from someone who had a direct line to the Moon Spirit." The Avatar shrugged. "But I guess if she hadn't done what she did, the Fire Nation would've recaptured the spirits and I'd still be in a trance under the palace for who knows how long- maybe forever. I wish I could've had a chance to thank her."

They were both silent for several more moments. "Maybe she could have helped us with our problem we're heading into right now," Kanoda finally said. "I mean, she knew more about spirits and the Spirit World than anybody I'd ever met- though that's not saying a whole lot, since everything I know about spirits is in stories that are hundreds of years old, except for very briefly meeting the Moon and Ocean Spirits. Being fish and all, it's not like they had a lot to say to me anyway."

Aang chuckled. "Good point, Kanoda," he said. "But it also makes me think of something I learned from the monks- everyone's time passes. Yue did what she was here to do, but now it's our time. I think this is something we'll have to solve ourselves."

"You're probably right," Kanoda said, looking back up at the moon. "But I still miss the things and the people that are gone."

"So do I," Aang said softly.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

Captain Xin was returning to his small ship at the Fire Nation Capital's docks, his step wavering somewhat- he'd probably had rather more to drink at that tavern than was wise, but no matter. He'd be fine before he had to sail in the morning. No, nothing to worry about at all. It was perhaps because he was in this state that he didn't notice the footsteps which approached from behind him until someone roughly grabbed his arm and put a blade to his throat. Xin froze as his assailant moved in front of him, revealing herself to be a young woman in fine, though somewhat disheveled, clothing. A strange intensity was in her eyes, and even through his haze, the captain found himself afraid. He fumbled for his dagger, but the girl smacked it out of his hand and pressed the tip of her sword more closely to his throat, drawing a drop of blood.

"You look like a sailor," she said in a quiet, deadly voice. "Now, if you want to walk away from this, you will do exactly what I say."


	8. Chapter 7: Crossed Purposes

**Chapter 7: Cross Purposes **

Zai rubbed the back of her head as she watched Aitan pace back and forth in the central hall of the temple. The immense room was floored and roofed in black marble, and the walls were devoid of ornamentation save for one, which was taken up completely by an immense mural of Azula in the fullness of her power, bending lightning out of one hand and fire from the other. At the wall's base was a dais atop which was a throne-like chair that was illuminated by six blue-burning torches. Aitan normally sat there when presiding over her followers, and now she was pacing at its base.

Finally she stopped and turned to regard Zai and Sen Ji, the acolyte who stood beside her and was in fact the one who Tsang had attacked last night. "Unacceptable," the Dragon Empress's self-proclaimed representative on earth hissed. Her face was as inscrutable as always, but there was a murderous light in her eyes. "I spent my entire night in tedious meetings with the King, and when I returned here I found that two of my acolytes had been assaulted, my temple had been invaded, and a copy of the Yong She Oracle stolen. That is _not_ what our divine Empress expects in her servants."

"Forgive me, Sage Aitan," Sen Ji said, bowing. "The rebel took me by surprise. Next time I will be more careful."

"You had best be," Aitan said. "Though you will no longer be entrusted with temple property until such time as I have deemed you worthy of it once again. That is not, however, my primary concern. What I need to know is this- how, exactly, did a rebel agent enter this sacred ground and manage to walk out again?"

"I do not know, Sage Aitan," Sen Ji said. "All I remember is seeing him, and then being knocked out. When I awoke, he was gone." Zai breathed a sigh of relief- apparently he'd gone down hard enough that any memories of her standing beside Tsang had been knocked clean away.

"I believe you." She swept away from him and came to stand before Zai; the two women were nearly the same height, and Aitan's golden eyes bored into the spy's grey ones. They were the only things that seemed alive in that dead-white face. "Do you know anything about this, Zai? You were of Earth Kingdom stock before you came to us, were you not? Perhaps only loyalties have resurfaced."

It took every ounce of willpower that Zai had to remain calm before that terrible gaze, but she had lied to Aitan's face before and she could do it again. "The followers of the Ascended Empress are my family and my people now," she said. "I swear by her name that I had no knowledge of the rebel's infiltration."

Aitan smiled and stepped back. "That's good," she said. "Still, you might know how such a one would think and act better than we- I want you to stay on high alert. This temple will _not_ be defiled by Earth Kingdom rebels ever again!"

"As you command," Zai and Sen Ji chorused and bowed.

"The hour foretold draws near," Aitan said, her voice taking on the ringing tone that it did whenever she preached or taught. "I have scoured the world's prophecies, and among many- chiefly the Yong She Oracle- there is an agreement that a time of great change is upon us. Soon the Spirit World and the mortal world shall intersect as happens but once a millennium, and on that day all shall be remade- for then shall the Dragon Empress, Azula of the Fire Nation, cast down into darkness but reborn as a being greater than she ever was before, shall arise and return to us, and establish a new Empire that shall endure for all eternity!"

As she finished speaking, Aitan spun to face the mural of the Empress and spread her arms wide. Zai and Sen Ji prostrated themselves, chanting Azula's praises as they pressed their foreheads to the stone floor. In Zai's heart, however, was not devotion but a stab of fear, and a fervent hope that Aitan's words were merely the product of delusion.

If they were real, it was a possibility too terrible to contemplate.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

Li Shang allowed the morning sun to warm his face as he stood upon the balcony of his palace and listened to the city come to life beneath him. Forges and factories working, people marching to work in orderly lines, every so often a guardsman shouting for order to be maintained- all the sounds of a domain that was being run practically and productively. The king permitted himself a rare smile at the thought- and also at the reason why Aitan had been called away just before dawn.

"Has she returned to her temple?" Li Shang asked the man who stood behind him.

"Yes, Majesty," said Lord Chen. "My man followed her closely, and he saw her enter the building with his own eyes. She will not be around to overhear us for some time."

"Good." Li Shang turned to face his chief advisor, dark red cloak billowing behind him. "How amusing it is to learn that even when Aitan spends half the night chiding me for being too lenient on the resistance and not crushing them when I had the chance, her own temple has been invaded and her acolytes assaulted. Ah, the irony is rich, is it not?"

"Indeed, Majesty," Lord Chen said, nodding. "Of course, the priestess may have a certain point regarding the fact that the rebellion still troubles us."

Li Shang held up one hand. "The rebellion is a nuisance to us- the sting of a butterwasp, no more. That they dared to assault my parade the other day is troubling, of course, as is their continued presence in Chanjie, but I can crush them at my leisure. Have the guards stand on alert- at the slightest noise of rebel activity, they are to tear the lower levels apart until they have found the ringleaders and brought them before me, so that I may deal with them myself." He smiled again, and there was nothing pleasant about it. "I will have them know that it is me they should fear far more than Aitan."

"It shall be done, Majesty," said Chen, bowing. "You wanted the report on yesterday's progress on the construction projects?"

"Indeed," said Li Shang. "I trust the news is good?"

"Very," said Chen. "Production continues at a high rate- the workers know their jobs well, and the local supply of coal and oar shows no sign of running out. When work is complete- and the overseers estimate it will be in less than a month- you will have the finest arsenal on the continent. Any city or territory you wish will be yours for the taking."

"Yes," whispered the king, turning back to regard Chanjie. "And when that happens, the world will know that I am its mightiest leader, not those upstart girls in Ba Sing Se and the Fire Nation. Let Aitan preach of the return of Azula, and let her handle the Avatar if he comes." Li Shang clenched his fist and flames danced around the edges. "I will have the true prize. All of the old Earth Kingdom south of the Si Wong Desert will be mine."

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

"Aang, look!" Kanoda called, swinging down from Benchi's back and landing lightly on the path.

"What is it?" the Avatar asked as he brought the eelhound to a halt.

"These tracks," Kanoda said, brushing the dust away from the large footprint before him. "It's just like what the village elder described. See, it's got three toes with claws on them, like a bird, and another toe in the back, probably to help it grip the ground when it's running. But it's so big!"

Aang swung down himself and came over to take a closer look. They had landed at a town in the southern portion of the Earth Kingdom earlier that morning, and had lost little time in questioning the locals about whether or not they'd heard or seen anything that looked like it might have crossed over from the Spirit World. Though the port hadn't suffered any actual damage yet, one of the local elders had reported that she'd seen strange fogs and heard unusual sounds within them, and when they were gone strange footprints had been left behind. Other townspeople had backed them up. They'd headed out shortly after to see if they could find any evidence for themselves, and now it was close to midafternoon.

"Weird!" Aang said. "I've never seen or heard of anything like it. Have you?"

Kanoda shook his head. "No. Most of our spirits in Water Tribe folklore are either aquatic or big things that live in the snow- kind of like manifestations of eternal cold and ice. I can't think of anything that might leave a track like this- though admittedly, most of the spirits I've heard of wouldn't like this place. It's too warm and too dry."

Aang chuckled. "I guess next to the South Pole, just about anywhere's warm and dry." He turned to look up and Benchi. "I don't guess you have any ideas?"

The eelhound lowered his head and sniffed at the track, then gave a _whuffing_ sound halfway between a bark and a hiss, though the expression in his eyes seemed to say "what did you expect?" Seeing it, Aang burst out laughing again.

Suddenly Kanoda heard a faint sound farther along the road and held up his hand for quiet. "I think I heard something," he whispered. "It sounds like someone's coming."

No sooner had he finished speaking than an ostrich-horse rounded a bend in the road. On its back was a slender, wiry girl who looked like she was about Aang's age; her long black hair was tied back in a tale and she wore a katana at her side with an ease that suggested she was more than capable with it. Otherwise, her clothing was nondescript and colored the greens and browns common in this part of the world.

"Hello, traveler!" Aang called, jumping to his feet. The girl pulled her ostrich-horse up short and regarded them, taking in first Benchi, then Aang himself, and finally Kanoda. When she saw the young Water Tribesman, her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You!" she spat, swinging down from her ostrich-horse and drawing her blade.

"Umm- do I know you?" Kanoda asked, thoroughly bewildered. The girl _did_ seem naggingly familiar, but he was certain he couldn't place her.

"Don't you remember?" she asked. "You tricked me, knocked me out with a boomerang, and then led me on a chase halfway around the world. But that was years ago. I guess I look different now."

"Cheng?" Kanoda demanded, and before waiting for an answer he grabbed his spear from where it hung on Benchi's saddle and pointed it at her. Yes- he could see it now. She was older, and her hair was longer, and she wasn't wearing her facepaint anymore, but it _could_ be her, and judging from the reaction, it probably was.

"Wait, who is this girl?" Aang asked.

"She was Shiyan's sidekick," Kanoda said. "And she killed Chaiy's father at Long Du Shi. The caught her, but she escaped. No one ever figured out what happened to her- until now."

"That's more or less accurate," Cheng snapped. "Now get out of the way, monk. I'm no longer a Chosen, and I have other things to deal with right now, but first I'm going to settle with this spy!"

"You still think I'm a spy?" Kanoda demanded. But then, he was too shocked to see Cheng after so long that he could barely guess what was going on in her head. He could see, though, that she was raising her sword to strike, and he readied his spear to defend himself, but before either could move Aang leaped between them and brought his staff down hard. Jets of air shot out from either side and forced both combatants back.

"I don't want anyone fighting!" the Avatar said. "Especially when there's nothing to fight over anymore. The Fire Empire is gone, and is a five year old grudge really worth cutting yourselves apart over?"

Kanoda sighed and lowered his spear. "If you say so, Aang," he said. "But I'm not trusting the mini-Chosen over there to listen to much reason."

As if to spite him, Cheng simply shoved her sword back into its sheath and made a jerky half-bow in Aang's direction. "Your words have merit," she said. "I've been trying to… move beyond my past lately, but seeing him brought back old memories. I have no desire to stay in his company, but I will not attack him."

"Well, that's progress," Aang said, smiling. "So what are you doing here, anyway?"

"I am tracking a spirit, or more than one," Cheng said. "I believe this creature has already consumed several villages. I want to know why- and to see if I can find out how to stop it."

' "That's what we're doing!" Aang said. "So, have you found anything out?"

"Sadly, no," Cheng said, looking away.

"Look, Aang," Kanoda put in, "I don't think she's telling the truth. What are the odds that we're on the same mission and we'd run right into each other? I think she's up to something, and I don't trust her one bit. She was never as nasty as Shiyan, but she was all about being a Chosen, and I think we'd be best off getting away from her."

"Of course you don't trust me," Cheng snapped. "Despite the fact that us meeting when we hunt the same quarry isn't really that unlikely. I think I'd be more than willing to fight you after all, if you're friend the Avatar doesn't interrupt again." She began to slip her sword from its sheath once again.

"Bring it on," Kanoda growled, raising his spear.

"Wait!" Aang said. "Look around you! We may both be here hunting spirits- but I think the spirits just found us!"

"What?" The word seemed to come out of Kanoda's and Cheng's mouths simultaneously, and they both spun to look around them. The sparse woodlands they'd been travelling through seemed to have almost faded away, for thick fog was boiling around them. In the mist could be heard sounds of creatures moving and sniffing- and then pairs of eyes, human-height but much larger, and glowing red, appeared around them. Kanoda thought he counted six pairs altogether, and gulped.

The creatures came into the light, and revealed themselves to resemble some of the species of giant lizard that were native to the Fire Nation except for the fact that they walked on two legs and their scales were a dull black that seemed almost to be made of smoke or shadow. Forked tongues shot in and out of their mouths as they tasted the air, and as they walked they left the distinctive clawed tracks.

"Well," Kanoda said, "I think these things are definitely what we were looking for- and I really wish that we hadn't found them!"

The spirit lizards advanced.


	9. Chapter 8: The Spirit Hunters

AN: Wow, I am horribly sorry about this! I seriously did not mean to let this go a year and a half between updates (if I let this happen again, feel free to PM me and yell at me about it- I deserve it). Anyway, the recent release of the Korra Book 2 trailer finally got me excited enough to write again.

Regarding my other Avatarverse fics (if anybody follows them), it's not looking good, I'm afraid. _Children of War_ can officially be considered dead, since _The Search_ takes my Ursa backstory and carefully shreds it into tiny pieces. I might get back to _Destinies Rewritten_ someday, though I'd likely have to do further revisions there to keep it canon-compliant before the AU sets in, and I'm not sure what I'll do there.

On a more positive note, here's a new chapter of _Legacy of the Fire Empire_!

**Chapter 8: Spirit Hunters**

Shiyan stood at the prow of the small ship, a borrowed cloak wrapped tightly around her against the chill as she stared forward unblinkingly, ignoring the crew as they fearfully went about their work behind her. One of them had tried to kill her already, as soon as she'd released the pathetic captain after explaining to them that she was commandeering their vessel in the name of the Empress. She'd skewered him neatly and dropped his body over the side, and afterwards had no trouble. The others feared her now and did as she commanded, and that was the proper order of things.

_Is it really? _Other Shiyan asked, her voice soft in the background of the Chosen's mind. _Is this honestly what you want from your life, hated and feared by everyone, without any happiness when you're not on a mission? Can you live like that? Can anyone? _

_ What else could there be? _Another voice asked, this one cold and fierce and merciless: the voice of the Empress. _People are foolish, ignorant, and cruel. You can't rely on them at all, unless you motivate them through fear- and even then, they will stab you in the back without a second thought. Even my Chosen are not immune to this- do you remember the traitor Cheng? There is only one way to live, and that is to find strength through loyal service!_

"Yes, that's right," Shiyan whispered. "I know what you ask of me, Majesty- my task is clear! When it's over, my crime will be forgotten. I am still a loyal daughter of the Chosen. I am still yours."

_Kanoda is my friend,_ Other Shiyan said sadly. _He was kind to me. My guards were kind to me. Why did we kill them? I feel so terrible… this can't be right… _

_ Friendship is an illusion,_ spat the Empress. _Right and wrong are illusions. There is only duty, and you know yours, Chosen Shiyan! Obey me! _

"AAAARGH!" Shiyan screamed, collapsing to the deck and clutching her head. She was a Chosen, she was loyal… she was sparring with Cheng, correcting the younger girl's form… she was sitting in her room at the Palace, reading a scroll of her favorite Old Fire Nation poetry… she was Azula, daughter of Ozai, Empress of the world, and she would not be denied… she was… she was…

Another voice, soft and toneless, that underlay all the others, said what she was, repeating it as a mindless, accusatory chant. _Murderer_, the voice said, _murderer… murderer… murderer… _

She didn't know how long she lay there, clutching her head and rocking back and forth, until she felt a shadow over her and looked up to see the captain, a look of mingled concern and terror on his face, standing over her. "Are you… all right?" he asked quietly.

Shiyan leapt to her feet as quickly as she could, drawing her sword and leveling it at the man's chest. "I'm fine," she snarled. "Leave me alone! The sooner we reach Earth Kingdom shores, the sooner you can deposit me and the sooner we can go our separate ways."

"Yes, of course," the captain said, backing away. Shiyan sheathed her weapon and leaned back over the prow, looking down into the waters. She fancied she caught her reflection there- her long hair loose, wild, and blowing in the wind, her face unpainted and her eyes wild, dark circles under thembecause she'd been unable to sleep ever since she'd fled from the Palace. The very image of a madwoman, Shiyan thought, and bit back a half-hysterical laugh. Maybe there wasn't any other word to describe what she'd become.

But she wouldn't stay one for long. She had a mission, a purpose for coming all the way across the face of the world. A charge had been laid on her by the Empress herself, and she would fulfill it or die in the attempt. She would do honor to the proud order of the Chosen.

She was going to find the Avatar, and she was going to kill him. Then, everything would be all right again.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

The spirit creatures circled, and Kanoda regarded them warily, all of his hunter's instincts on alert. Any of these beings looked like they were capable of killing a human, and they had every tactical advantage as well- they'd taken the three travelers by surprise, had them surrounded, and (not counting Benchi or Cheng's ostrich-horse) outnumbered them two to one. Worse still, Kanoda thought, were their eyes, which glittered with intelligence and malice. Those were not the eyes of a dumb animal; rather, they spoke of an intelligence that was at the very least the equal of a human's, and possibly superior.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cheng backing up warily, her sword held at an angle in front of her. "Still want to try and kill me?" Kanoda called.

She shook her head slightly. "The situation has changed," she said; he thought she was putting on a brave front, but there was a hint of something under it that might have been fear. "Perhaps we might… for now… make an alliance?"

"I'm not real happy about fighting alongside a Chosen," Kanoda said. "But I'm even less happy about ending up in a lizard's belly. For now… allies."

Both warriors raised their weapons towards the creatures, but the spirits didn't advance. They just continued their circling, red eyes never blinking, while the mist swirled around them. Benchi made a soft whine and pawed the ground, and Aang patted the eel-hound's neck reassuringly. Then he stepped forward, gaze uncharacteristically impassive and staff raised in front of him. "Spirits!" he called out. "I'm the Avatar, the bridge between our worlds. I don't know what you want, why you're threatening us, or why you kidnapped the villagers! But I want to understand. Let's talk about this. We don't have to fight."

The creatures stopped their pacing and all was still for a moment that seemed to stretch into an eternity. Then one of the spirits stalked forward and locked its gaze with Aang's. It was close enough now that Kanoda could see that its edges weren't solid, like a mortal creature's were; instead they wavered and seemed almost to blend into the thickening mist that surrounded them. The lizard sniffed the air once, and then it spoke.

_Avatar_, it said. _You are alive. We had heard you had vanished. _

"I… had some problems," Aang said, and his voice was subdued. "But I'm here now. Please tell me what you want. Maybe we can help each other."

_We do not require your help_, the spirit-voice said as the red eyes narrowed.

"I don't understand," Aang said. "I only ran into one spirit before the Fire Nation captured me, but he only hurt people because he was angry that his forest had been burned. Did something like that happen to you? Is that why you've been attacking people?"

The spirit gave a soft rustling sound, and Kanoda's blood chilled as he realized it was laughing. _You speak of Hei Bei, the black and white spirit. We heard you had aided him, and we thank you for your kindness. But we do not require your aid. It is not to avenge loss that we have come to your world. We are here to fulfill another purpose. _

A look of frustration crossed Aang's face. "All right. Can't you just tell me what that is?"

_You would not understand_, the spirit hissed. _You were not meant to be here, now. You should have stayed lost, Avatar. The cycle has wound down. The hour of reckoning has come. We are its harbingers. The villagers you seek- their removal was merely the beginning of what we have come to accomplish. _

"I guess that means you're not going to let them go, then?" Aang asked.

_No. _

"Well, I can't just sit back and let you take them!" the Avatar said. "I didn't want to fight you, but it looks like you're not giving me another option!"

_So be it._ The spokesman ("spokespirit"? Kanoda wondered) backed away, and its fellows leaped forward, fangs bared and claws raised. The young Water Tribesman pulled back and raised his spear up, ramming it into the exposed throat of the nearest creature, only to watch in horror as the point simply passed through as though it was made of mist. The spirit's jaws passed through him as well, and though they didn't leave a physical mark, they caused a sensation of unbearable cold to shoot through him. Kanoda collapsed to the ground, shouting in shock and pain, and his spear clattered from his nerveless hands.

Nearby, he saw another of the spirits pass through Cheng, and she fell to her knees beside him, mouth open in an expression of pain and shock. Behind her, her ostrich-horse reared fled, her packs sliding from its back to land beside their owner as it did so. "This… is not how I'd imagined I would die," she managed to gasp out.

"Neither did I," Kanoda said, shaking his head as the spirit that had struck him came back around for another pass. "Neither did- wait. Look!" Cheng raised her head in the direction his gaze indicated, and her eyes widened.

Aang had flipped through the air and landed neatly among the spirits, and was bending thin slices of air from his staff that seemed to cut straight through the creatures, not appearing to do any actual damage but rippling them somehow, and when they rippled the paused in their tracks. Then he tried earth, flinging rocks at them, though this produced little noticeable effect. Finally, expression intense, he bent a jet of flame from each hand- and where each struck a spirit, it collapsed into mist. The spirits reformed nearby a moment later, but now they seemed wary, almost… afraid.

"They fear fire," Cheng said. "Of course they do- they are creatures of darkness and cold, why wouldn't they be afraid of light and heat? Quickly, spy- Kanoda, I mean. In my pack."

He pulled himself to his feet and grabbed Cheng's pack where it lay nearby. Inside were knives, some coins, some food, and there, at the bottom, a handful of long, thin torches. "Found them!" Kanoda called. He took one for himself, and tossed another to Cheng. "Catch! Aang, do you have a moment?"

The Avatar suddenly leaped from his position at the center of the once-again circling spirits and landed beside the hunter and the Chosen. They held out their torches, and he quickly lit them using firebending. Together they turned back to face the spirits, Kanoda and Cheng with lit torches, Aang with his staff in one hand and a flame in the other. Behind them, Benchi growled and crouched low, waiting to spring, though it would do little good.

The spirits faced them, eyes gleaming, seeming to be daunted by the fire. Then slowly, more carefully, they began to advance again. Kanoda and Cheng waved their torches, and Aang struck one spirit with a fireblast, but they didn't stop, and the one that had been blasted reformed almost immediately. Obviously, Kanoda thought, they didn't like fire, but they were perfectly willing to go through it to get at their prey if they really wanted to.

Aang glanced to each of the others. "There's one more thing I'm going to try," he said. "I'm not sure if I can pull it off, but the two of you might want to brace yourselves, just in case." Both warriors nodded, and then the avatar extinguished his flame, dropped his staff, and closed his eyes. He brought his hands together as though he was meditating, and for a moment all was still, with even the spirits seeming to pause as if they were waiting to see what would happen next. Then Aang's eyes snapped back open, and they blazed with a fierce blue-white light. Wind blasted away from him, and both Cheng and Kanoda ducked away from the force of it. Slowly, Aang raised both of his hands, and then a vast wave of flame shot from them. It was too large and fast for the spirits to escape, and they were all struck by it and reduced to mist.

Aang lowered his hands, and at once the flames died. For a moment all was silent once more, and then slowly the spirits began to reform. They stood still, and Kanoda had the unnerving sense that they were somehow communing with one another. Finally, one stepped forward- whether it was the one that had spoken before or not, Kanoda couldn't tell.

_The time is perhaps not right for this confrontation,_ the spirit said. _We realize now that we cannot defeat you. But we are not your enemies, Avatar, though you may believe us to be. We hate no living thing. Therefore, we shall give you a warning before we go- we are only the beginning. The end of the age is upon us. The cycle prepares to end, and begin anew. The Sleeper wakes. Remember that, Avatar. The Sleeper wakes. _One by one the spirits faded into the mist until nothing but their burning eyes remained, and then the eyes too vanished. Slowly the mist itself parted, until once more they stood on an Earth Kingdom road as twilight overtook the sky.

The glow faded from Aang's eyes and he began to sway; Kanoda ran to his friend's side and caught him. "You all right?" he asked.

"I'll be okay," Aang said, his voice weak. Kanoda had only seen him use the Avatar state a handful of times before, and it always seemed to have this effect. "What do you think it meant there, at the end? I didn't understand it, but it didn't sound good."

"No idea," Kanoda admitted. "There's nothing that comes to mind from Water Tribe legend that matches up. But you're right- that would've been ominous enough if it _hadn't_ come from a bunch of giant lizards that just tried to kill us."

"If the two of you are done admitting to each other that you don't know what you're talking about," Cheng called, "you might want to look at the road." Both boys turned to see that she was pointing along the road, deeper inland. In the gathering gloom they could just make out the line of footprints- just like the ones they had seen before and mistaken for some huge bird- heading away.

"They're going the direction you came from," Kanoda said, but Cheng shook her head.

"No, I there's a crossroads that's not very far in that direction. That's where the road I was on joined this one, and I was already tracking the creatures. I think they're going in the same direction they were when I first followed them." She looked back at the footprints. "South and east. Always south and east."

"We need to go after them," Aang said, pulling away from Kanoda and standing up. "We need to find out what this is all about."

"Yes, I think you should," Cheng said. She knelt and retrieved her sword from where it had fallen on the ground and held it before her. "And I will see this through. That means that whether you like it or not, I'm coming with you."


End file.
